July 12, 2006, 11:19 PM CT

Living Alone Doubles The Risk Of Serious Heart Disease

People who live alone double their risk of serious heart disease as those who live with a partner, suggests research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. This includes severe angina and heart attack.

The finding is based on a study of more than 138,000 adults between the ages of 30 and 69 living in one area (Aarhus) of Denmark.

Between 2000 and 2002, 646 people were diagnosed with severe angina, or sustained a heart attack, or sudden cardiac death, a spectrum of conditions known as acute coronary syndrome.

When analysed in detail, using information from population registers, poor educational attainment and living on a pension were linked to an increased risk of the syndrome.

But the two strongest predictive factors for the syndrome were age and living alone.

Women above the age of 60 and living by themselves, and men over the age of 50, in the same position, were twice as likely to have the syndrome as everyone else.

Lone women over 60 comprised just over 5 per cent, and lone men over 50 just under 8 per cent, of the whole population.

Yet lone women in this age group accounted for a third of all deaths from the syndrome within 30 days of diagnosis, while lone men in this age group accounted for two thirds of deaths.........

Posted by: Daniel      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 10:56 PM CT

Women At Risk From Working Long Hours

Long hours of work may be more worrisome for women in comparison to men. Women who work long hours are more likely than men to indulge in unhealthy behaviours such as snacking, smoking and drinking caffeine. A new study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council finds that men and women respond very differently to working long hours.

Researcher Dr Daryl O'Connor explains: "Women who work long hours eat more high fat and high sugar snacks, exercise less, drink more caffeine and, if smokers, smoke more than their male colleagues," he points out. "While for men, working longer hours has no negative impact on exercise, caffeine intake or smoking."

While a number of women adopt unhealthy behaviours in response to working long hours, scientists think that, in one respect, working long hours has an equally beneficial effect for both men and women. "The one clear positive impact of working long hours for both sexes is that alcohol consumption is reduced," Dr O'Connor points out.

These findings are part of a wider study conducted by psychology experts from Leeds University into the effects of stress on eating. "Stress disrupts people's normal eating habits," Dr O'Connor suggests. "Stress causes people to opt for unhealthy high fat and high sugar snacks in preference to healthier food choices. Also people under stress eat less than usual in their main meals including their vegetable intake but shift their preference to high fat/high sugar snacks instead".........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 9:50 PM CT

Brain-computer Helps Paralyzed Patients

How can we make a paralyzed person perform actions that he or she wants to do? Technology is now coming to aid people who were paralyzed for long time.

People with long-standing, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movements. These signals can be detected, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and converted into actions, enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks.

The results of the clinical trial evaluating this possibility are reported in the latest issued of Nature. In this study, the first patient, Matthew Nagle, a 25-year-old Massachusetts man with a severe spinal cord injury, has been paralyzed from the neck down since 2001. After having the BrainGate sensor implanted on the surface of his brain at Rhode Island Hospital in June 2004, he learned to control a computer cursor simply by thinking about moving it.

During 57 sessions, from July 2004 to April 2005, at New England Sinai Hospital and Rehabilitation Center, Nagle learned to open simulated e-mail, draw circular shapes using a paint program on the computer and play a simple video game, "neural Pong," using only his thoughts. He could change the channel and adjust the volume on a television, even while conversing. He was ultimately able to open and close the fingers of a prosthetic hand and use a robotic limb to grasp and move objects. Despite a decline in neural signals after 6.5 months, Nagle remained an active participant in the trial and continued to aid the clinical team in producing valuable feedback concerning the BrainGate technology.........

Posted by: Daniel      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 9:22 PM CT

Mesothelioma Drug In Progress

CuraGen Corporation and TopoTarget have initiated patient dosing in a phase II clinical trial evaluating the activity of PXD101, a small molecule histone deacetylase inhibitor, for the treatment of a type of cancer called mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer arising from the cells, known as mesothelium, with the majority of cancers beginning in the chest cavity. The incidence of mesothelioma increases with age and is rarely diagnosed in patients under 55 years old. Exposure to asbestos is believed to be the main cause of the disease.

National Cancer Institute is sponsoring the current clinical trial with CuraGen. Those who are having a diagnosis of mesothelioma, which is not removable by surgery and who have failed at least one line of chemotherapy are eligible for the clinical trial. The drug PXD101 is given by intravenous infusion once every three weeks.

The scientists are trying to determine if the drug PXD101 has any significant activity on mesothelioma in terms of clinical response. The study is also aimed at determining the safety of the drug and time to therapy failure. The study would also look for any survival advantage resulting from the use of the drug.

Scientists are planning to enroll a total of 37 patients at different sites across the United States.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink

July 12, 2006, 8:42 PM CT

Parents Are Not To Be Blamed

What's the largest study that looked at children's late language development showed? It showed that parents are not to be blamed for the late language development of children. It is not because the parents are not talking to the toddlers that they are not developing the language skills.

This world's largest study has examined speech development of 1766 children in Western Australia from infancy to seven years of age, with particular focus on environmental, neuro-developmental and genetic risk factors. It is the first study to look at predictors of late language.

Chief Investigator Professor Mabel Rice said the research found that about 13 per cent of children at two years of age were late talkers.

This problem affects boys were three times higher compared to girls. While a child with siblings was at double the risk, as were children with a family history of late talkers.

Mother's education, income, parenting style or mental health had no significant impact on a child's likelihood of being a late talker. The researchers say that their findings debunked common myths about why children are late talkers.

"Some people have wrongly believed that delayed language development could be due to a child not being spoken to enough or because of some other inadequacy in the family environment," Associate Professor Taylor said.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 8:25 PM CT

Who Eat More Fruits

Those who are sweet lover may be eating more fruits compared to those who love salty-snacks. People who like fruit eat more sweets than vegetable lovers do. These findings are according to scientists from Cornell University analyses.

"If we know a person likes one type of food, this kind of study helps us better predict what other types of foods he or she might prefer," said the researcher and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab that studies the psychology behind what people eat and how often they eat it. By better understanding how various foods, such as sweets, are linked by preference, strategies used to market such sweet snacks as candy bars, for example, could be incorporated into an educational program to increase the consumption of fruit.

To research in this matter and to see how much fruit sweet and salty-snack lovers ate, Wansink used the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals. To determine whether fruit lovers eat more sweets than vegetable lovers, Wansink analyzed the results of a snack consumption survey of 770 individuals.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 8:02 PM CT

Dealing With Unexplained Symptoms

How to deal with symptoms that are not explained by conventional medical diagnosis? There is no clear answer to this question. Now some doctors from Michigan State University are trying to answer this question. They have developed a revolutionary therapy plan that will allow primary care physicians to more effectively treat people who suffer from medically unexplained symptoms.

This is a problem that affects millions of people and can affect an already over-burdened health care system, as per Robert Smith, a doctor and professor in MSU's Department of Medicine, College of Human Medicine.

Smith and colleagues have developed a therapy plan, which involves a combination of behavior modification and therapeutic drugs, as well as a good dose of improved communication between patient and doctor.

These scientists have tested their novel therapy approach with about 100 patients. Smith and his colleagues found that nearly half of them showed significant improvement. Their findings were published in a recent issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.

"What we did was use what they've learned in psychiatry and the pain clinics, which is cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacological therapy," Smith said. "We simply adapted it for use by primary care providers. But the centerpiece of all this is the doctor-patient relationship."........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 5:51 PM CT

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

The ovaries are two small organs, one on each side of a woman's uterus. A woman's ovaries have follicles, which are tiny sacs filled with liquid that hold the eggs. These sacs are also called cysts. Each month about 20 eggs start to mature, but usually only one becomes dominant. As the one egg grows, the follicle accumulates fluid in it. When that egg matures, the follicle breaks open to release the egg so it can travel through the fallopian tube for fertilization. When the single egg leaves the follicle, ovulation takes place.

In women with PCOS, the ovary doesn't make all of the hormones it needs for any of the eggs to fully mature. They may start to grow and accumulate fluid. But no one egg becomes large enough. Instead, some may remain as cysts. Since no egg matures or is released, ovulation does not occur and the hormone progesterone is not made. Without progesterone, a woman’s menstrual cycle is irregular or absent. Also, the cysts produce male hormones, which continue to prevent ovulation. ........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink

July 12, 2006, 5:42 PM CT

Teen Cancer Patient And Treatment Decision

No more chemotherapy! That’s what Starchild Abraham Cherrix telling the judge. He received three months of chemotherapy and this has made him nauseated and weak some times so weak and unable to walk by himself.

When he learned that he is having a recurrence of cancer, he said to the doctors, “No more chemotherapy”. Abraham is only 16 years old. The question is: can he decide about his own treatment.

"I think it would kill me the second time," said Abraham. He wants to try a sugar-free organic diet, which is a form of alternative treatment provided in Mexico to treat his Hodgkin's disease.

The judge is hearing the testimony and arguments. Judge has heard 11 hours of testimony. Judge will decide if the teen can make his own medical decisions and live with his parents and four siblings on Chincoteague, an island off Virginia's Eastern Shore.

The judge is expected to issue a written decision by July 18.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

July 12, 2006, 7:26 AM CT

Physical activity does not protect from ovarian cancer

There are several benefits to a regular exercise program. It keeps you fit, it prevents heart attack, and it protects you from breast cancer. But the benefits of exercise do not extend to the field of ovarian cancer.

A new research has found that exercise programs do not protect women from developing ovarian cancer. This is as per reports published in International Journal of Cancer.

"However, despite not protecting for ovarian cancer, physical activity has so many other positive health effects that women should be encouraged to exercise daily, if possible," study chief Dr. Elisabete Weiderpass from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm emphasized in comments to Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues assessed associations between physical activity during different periods of life and ovarian cancer incidence in roughly 96,000 women from Norway and Sweden who were followed for more than a decade.

"We asked the women how much they exercised at ages 14, 30 and between ages 30 and 50 year," Weiderpass said.

A total of 264 women developed ovarian cancer during the time they were followed.........

Posted by: Emily      Permalink         Source